Global energy and environmental crises are among the most pressing challenges facing humankind. To overcome these challenges, recent years have seen an upsurge of interest in the development and production of renewable chemical fuels as alternatives to the nonrenewable and high-polluting fossil fuels. Photocatalysis, photoelectrocatalysis, and electrocatalysis provide promising avenues for sustainable energy conversion. Single- and dual-component catalytic systems based on nanomaterials have been intensively studied for decades, but their intrinsic weaknesses hamper their practical applications. Multicomponent nanomaterial-based systems, consisting of three or more components with at least one component in the nanoscale, have recently emerged. The multiple components are integrated together to create synergistic effects and hence overcome the limitation for outperformance. Such higher-efficiency systems based on nanomaterials will potentially bring an additional benefit in balance-of-system costs if they exclude the use of noble metals, considering the expense and sustainability. It is therefore timely to review the research in this field, providing guidance in the development of noble-metal-free multicomponent nanointegration for sustainable energy conversion. In this work, we first recall the fundamentals of catalysis by nanomaterials, multicomponent nanointegration, and reactor configuration for water splitting, CO2 reduction, and N-2 reduction. We then systematically review and discuss recent advances in multicomponent-based photocatalytic, photo-electrochemical, and electrochemical systems based on nanomaterials. On the basis of these systems, we further laterally evaluate different multicomponent integration strategies and highlight their impacts on catalytic activity, performance stability, and product selectivity. Finally, we provide conclusions and future prospects for multicomponent nanointegration. This work offers comprehensive insights into the development of cost-competitive multicomponent nanomaterial-based systems for sustainable energy-conversion technologies and assists researchers working toward addressing the global challenges in energy and the environment.

Noble-Metal-Free Multicomponent Nanointegration for Sustainable Energy Conversion.

To address the energy crisis and environmental problems, the applications of solar energy have received intensive attention. Converting solar energy to hydrogen using a photoelectrochemical (PEC) cell is one of the most promising approaches to meet future energy demands. As an earth abundant metal oxide, tungsten trioxide (WO3), which has a moderate band gap (2.5–2.7 eV), ideal valence band position, and high resistance to photocorrosion, has been widely utilized in PEC photoanodes. To obtain a WO3 photoanode with high PEC efficiency, tremendous efforts have been made to improve the light absorption capacity, charge carrier dynamics, and oxygen evolution activity. In this report, the recent advances in WO3 photoanode optimization, including morphology design, dopants doping, heterojunction fabrication, and surface modification are summarized. In this review, these developments and representative applications of WO3 photoanodes in unassisted water splitting devices are also discussed. Finally, perspectives on the significant challenges and future prospects for the development of WO3 photoanodes for PEC water splitting are provided.

Tungsten Trioxide Nanostructures for Photoelectrochemical Water Splitting: Material Engineering and Charge Carrier Dynamic Manipulation

In this study, a series of NCN/BiWO (NCN = N-doped graphitic carbon nitride, BiWO = Bi2WO6) were fabricated successfully, which were characterized by XRD, TEM, FTIR, BET, UV–vis spectrometry, XPS and PL. Under visible light irradiation, the optimum mass ratio of 60 % NCN/BiWO could reach 93.1 % removal efficiency of phenol within 5 h, which was about 6.9 times as that pure Bi2WO6. And the degradation rate constant of 60 % NCN/BiWO (2.6726 min-1) was about 18.5 times as that of pure Bi2WO6 (0.1442 min-1). According to the result of UV–vis absorption spectra, VB-XPS spectra and photoelectrochemistry performance, the photocatalytic mechanism of 60 % NCN/BiWO was revealed, indicating that the narrow band gap of 60 % NCN/BiWO is the main factor on the high photocatalytic activity. The stable and recyclable properties also were done, showing highly suitable for practical application.

Novel Bi2WO6 modified by N-doped graphitic carbon nitride photocatalyst for efficient photocatalytic degradation of phenol under visible light

With continuous consumption of nonrenewable energy, solar energy has been predicted to play an essential role in meeting the energy demands and mitigating environmental issues in the future. Despite being green, clean and pollution-free energy, solar energy cannot be adopted directly as it cannot provide sufficiently high energy density to work in the absence of machinery. Thus, it is necessary to develop an effective strategy to convert and store solar energy into chemical energy to achieve social sustainable development using solar energy as the main power source. Photocatalysis, in which semiconductor photocatalysts play a key role, is one of the most promising candidates for realising the effective utilisation of sunlight in a green, low-cost and environmentally friendly method. The photocatalytic efficiency of photocatalysts is considerably influenced by their compositions. Among the various heterostructures, Z-scheme heterojunction is one of the most interesting architecture due to its outstanding performance and excellent artificial imitation of photosynthesis. Z-scheme photocatalysts have attracted considerable attention in the past few decades. Herein, we review contemporary Z-scheme systems, with a particular focus on mechanistic breakthroughs, and highlight current state-of-the-art systems. Z-type photocatalysts are classified as traditional, all-solid-state, direct Z-schemes and S-scheme photocatalysts. The morphology, characterisation and working mechanism of each type of Z-scheme are discussed in detail. Furthermore, the applications of Z-scheme in photoelectrochemical water splitting, nitrogen fixation, pollutant degradation and carbon dioxide reduction are illustrated. Finally, we outline the main challenges and potential advances in Z-scheme architectures, as well as their future development directions. 

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdfdirect/10.1002/cey2.179

Advances in Z‐scheme semiconductor photocatalysts for the photoelectrochemical applications: A review

Photocatalysis is intensely employed to remove refractory organic pollutants in water but suffers from low efficiency due to the rapid recombination of photogenerated electrons and holes. Here, car...

Graphitic Carbon Nitride with Carbon Vacancies for Photocatalytic Degradation of Bisphenol A

Internal quantum efficiency higher than 100% achieved by combining doping and quantum effects for photocatalytic overall water splitting

High-performance thermogalvanic cells have the potential to convert thermal energy into electricity, but their effectiveness is limited by the low concentration difference of redox ions. We report an in situ photocatalytically enhanced redox reaction that generates hydrogen and oxygen to realize a continuous concentration gradient of redox ions in thermogalvanic devices. A linear relation between thermopower and hydrogen production rate was established as an essential design principle for devices. The system exhibited a thermopower of 8.2 millivolts per kelvin and a solar-to-hydrogen efficiency of up to 0.4%. A large-area generator (112 square centimeters) consisting of 36 units yielded an open-circuit voltage of 4.4 volts and a power of 20.1 milliwatts, as well 0.5 millimoles of hydrogen and 0.2 millimoles of oxygen after 6 hours of outdoor operation. Description Editor’s summary In thermogalvanic cells, temperature-driven concentration gradients of redox-active species create a potential difference that can produce electricity. Wang et al. show that for the redox coupling between Fe(CN)64− and Fe(CN)63− in a gel matrix, water-splitting photocatalysts that generated oxygen and hydrogen boosted the concentration gradients of the redox ions and added a proton gradient to the cell (see the Perspective by Yu and Duan). The cell had a thermopower of 82 millivolts per degree kelvin and also generated a hydrogen by-product. —Phil Szuromi Photocatalysis increased concentration gradients of iron cyanide anions and the thermopower of a thermogalvanic device.

In situ photocatalytically enhanced thermogalvanic cells for electricity and hydrogen production

Abstract Severe carrier recombination and the slow kinetics of water splitting for photocatalysts hamper their efficient application. Herein, we propose a hydrovoltaic effect-enhanced photocatalytic system in which polyacrylic acid (PAA) and cobaltous oxide (CoO)–nitrogen doped carbon (NC) achieve an enhanced hydrovoltaic effect and CoO–NC acts as a photocatalyst to generate H 2 and H 2 O 2 products simultaneously. In this system, called PAA/CoO–NC, the Schottky barrier height between CoO and the NC interface decreases by 33% due to the hydrovoltaic effect. Moreover, the hydrovoltaic effect induced by H + carrier diffusion in the system generates a strong interaction between H + ions and the reaction centers of PAA/CoO–NC, improving the kinetics of water splitting in electron transport and species reaction. PAA/CoO–NC exhibits excellent photocatalytic performance, with H 2 and H 2 O 2 production rates of 48.4 and 20.4 mmol g −1 h −1 , respectively, paving a new way for efficient photocatalyst system construction. 

/pdf/hydrovoltaic-effect-enhanced-photocatalysis-by-polyacrylic-21fr5diq.pdf

Hydrovoltaic effect-enhanced photocatalysis by polyacrylic acid/cobaltous oxide–nitrogen doped carbon system for efficient photocatalytic water splitting

In this study, graphene quantum dot (GQD) modified g-C3N4 (GQDs/CN) composite photocatalysts were prepared. The photocatalytic ammonia degradation properties of the GQDs/CN composites were much higher than that of pure g-C3N4. When the amount of GQDs added reached 0.5 wt% the GQDs/CN composite showed the best performance for photocatalytic total ammonia nitrogen (TAN) removing, and a 90% TAN removing rate was achieved in 7 hours under visible light illumination (200 mW cm−2), which is approximately 3 times higher than that of pure g-C3N4. The increased photocatalytic property was contributed by the photon adsorption ability and electron transfer capacity, which were improved after GQD modification. The main photocatalytic end-product of TAN was NO3− which is a type of environmentally green ion. Further results indicated that the oxygen concentration and pH value of the reaction solution were very important for the photocatalytic ammonia degradation process. A better performance could be achieved under a higher oxygen concentration and pH value.

/pdf/graphene-quantum-dot-modified-g-c3n4-for-enhanced-27jsmkc1qc.pdf

Graphene quantum dot modified g-C3N4 for enhanced photocatalytic oxidation of ammonia performance

A promising CuOx/WO3 p-n heterojunction thin-film photocathode fabricated by magnetron reactive sputtering

Handle everyday research tasks with reliable, citation-backed results

Your personal Research Agent to handle research tasks with citation-backed results

Popular Tasks used by Researchers

How can I help with your research?

Meet SciSpace

Get more enhanced response by uploading the PDFs you want me to reference.

No relevant PDFs in your library

SciSpace is the AI research assistant for academics. Run systematic literature reviews on 280M+ papers, and write papers with cited sources. Trusted by 1M+ students, PhDs & researchers.

SciSpace | AI for Research

Analyze PDFs

Code & Manuscripts

Funding & Grants

Literature & Patents

Medical & Clinical Data

Systematic Review

Visualize & Present

Web & Data

Build a Google Scholar-like website for your research.

Build a website

Create charts and images for your research

Create a Chart

Write a paper for submission to a journal

Draft a manuscript

Patent Search

Design eye-catching scientific posters in minutes.

Scientific Poster Generation

Systematic Literature Review

One task is running at the moment. Your messages will be shown right after.

Drag and drop or click here to browse

Loved by <highlight>1 million+</highlight> researchers

Extract a list of specific topics and their sources from unstructured text

Topics

Compare and analyze relevant papers that matches with your search

Papers

Get insights from PDFs and bookmarked papers from your library

My library

Recent searches

Try searching for:

Catch AI-generated content in scholarly and non-scholarly content

{ai} Detector

Ai Writer

Get PDF Summaries, highlighted text explanations 

Chat with PDF

Effortlessly create in-text citations and bibliographies in APA and 2,500 other formats

Citation generator

Get explanations, summaries, and answers on academic papers

Ease up your research workflow with {scispace}'s cohort of exciting AI tools

Elevate your academic writing skills and convey your ideas the way you want

Paraphraser

Explore our range of reading and writing tools

Your file is being prepared and should be ready in a few minutes. If it's a large file, it might take a bit longer. You can close this window, and we'll email you the file when it's done.

You have reached a maximum limit of <strong>{limit}</strong> columns in the table. Remove at least <strong>1</strong> column to add or create another one.

Ruiling Wang

Author Tools

Chat about Author